File Download

Download files from websites using the browser's authenticated session. Handles PDFs, CSVs, images, and any downloadable content. Preserves cookies and login sessions for authenticated downloads.

All code runs via openbrowser-ai -c. The daemon starts automatically and persists variables across calls. All browser functions are async -- use await.

The CLI daemon also persists cookies and login state in ~/.config/openbrowser/profiles/daemon/storage_state.json, so authenticated sessions can be reused across later runs.

Setup

Before running, verify openbrowser-ai is installed:

openbrowser-ai --help

If not found, install:

# macOS/Linux
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/billy-enrizky/openbrowser-ai/main/install.sh | sh

# Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/billy-enrizky/openbrowser-ai/main/install.ps1 | iex

Workflow

Step 1 -- Navigate and find download links

openbrowser-ai -c - <<'EOF'
await navigate("https://example.com/reports")

# Get browser state to find clickable download links
state = await browser.get_browser_state_summary()
for idx, el in state.dom_state.selector_map.items():
    text = el.get_all_children_text(max_depth=1)
    if "download" in text.lower() or "pdf" in text.lower() or "export" in text.lower():
        print(f"[{idx}] {el.tag_name}: {text}")
EOF

Step 2 -- Download a file by URL

Use download_file() to download directly. This uses the browser's JavaScript fetch internally, preserving cookies and authentication:

openbrowser-ai -c - <<'EOF'
path = await download_file("https://example.com/reports/annual-report.pdf")
print(f"Saved to: {path}")
EOF

With a custom filename:

openbrowser-ai -c - <<'EOF'
path = await download_file(
    "https://example.com/api/export?format=csv",
    filename="sales-data.csv"
)
print(f"Saved to: {path}")
EOF

Step 3 -- Extract a download URL from the page

When the download URL is not directly visible, extract it from a link or button:

openbrowser-ai -c - <<'EOF'
# Extract href from a download link
download_url = await evaluate("""
(function(){
  const link = document.querySelector("a[href$=\".pdf\"]");
  return link ? link.href : null;
})()
""")

if download_url:
    path = await download_file(download_url)
    print(f"Downloaded: {path}")
else:
    print("No PDF link found")
EOF

Step 4 -- Read a downloaded PDF

After downloading, use pypdf to extract text (requires pip install openbrowser-ai[pdf]):

openbrowser-ai -c - <<'EOF'
from pypdf import PdfReader

reader = PdfReader(path)
print(f"Pages: {len(reader.pages)}")

# Extract text from all pages
for i, page in enumerate(reader.pages):
    text = page.extract_text()
    print(f"--- Page {i+1} ---")
    print(text[:500])
EOF

Step 5 -- Read other file types

openbrowser-ai -c - <<'EOF'
from pathlib import Path

file_path = Path(path)

# CSV
if file_path.suffix == ".csv":
    import pandas as pd
    df = pd.read_csv(file_path)
    print(df.to_string())

# JSON
if file_path.suffix == ".json":
    import json
    data = json.loads(file_path.read_text())
    print(json.dumps(data, indent=2))

# Plain text
if file_path.suffix in (".txt", ".md", ".log"):
    print(file_path.read_text())
EOF

Step 6 -- Download multiple files

openbrowser-ai -c - <<'EOF'
urls = [
    "https://example.com/report-q1.pdf",
    "https://example.com/report-q2.pdf",
    "https://example.com/report-q3.pdf",
]

paths = []
for url in urls:
    path = await download_file(url)
    paths.append(path)
    print(f"Downloaded: {path}")

print(f"Total files: {len(paths)}")
EOF

Step 7 -- List all downloads

openbrowser-ai -c - <<'EOF'
files = list_downloads()
for f in files:
    print(f)
print(f"Total: {len(files)} files")
EOF

Step 8 -- Download from authenticated pages

download_file() preserves the browser's login session. Log in first, then download:

openbrowser-ai -c - <<'EOF'
# Navigate and log in
await navigate("https://portal.example.com/login")
await input_text(username_index, "user@example.com")
await input_text(password_index, "password")
await click(login_button_index)
await wait(2)

# Now download an authenticated resource
path = await download_file("https://portal.example.com/api/reports/confidential.pdf")
print(f"Downloaded: {path}")
EOF

Tips

• Code is piped via stdin using heredoc (-c - <<'EOF'), so all Python syntax works without shell escaping issues.
• Use download_file(url) instead of navigate(url) for files. navigate() opens PDFs in the browser viewer but does not save them.
• download_file() preserves cookies and authentication -- no need to re-authenticate.
• Filename conflicts are handled automatically with (N) suffix (e.g., report (1).pdf).
• If no filename is provided, it is derived from the URL path.
• Use list_downloads() to see all files saved in the downloads directory.
• For large files, download_file() has a 120-second timeout.
• The fallback strategy uses Python requests if the browser fetch fails (e.g., CORS restrictions), but without browser cookies.

Cleanup

This step is mandatory. Run it after every download run, whether the file landed successfully or the request failed. Without it, the daemon keeps Chrome running until its 10-minute idle timeout, leaving a stale browser process, a locked profile, and (on macOS/Linux desktop) a visible window.

Stop the daemon, then verify it is gone:

openbrowser-ai daemon stop
openbrowser-ai daemon status

daemon stop closes every tab, exits Chrome, flushes saved cookies/login state to the profile, and shuts down the daemon process. daemon status should report the daemon is not running. If it still reports running, the daemon is wedged, force-kill it:

pkill -f 'openbrowser.*daemon' || true

If a download can fail mid-workflow (timeout, 4xx/5xx, CORS), guarantee cleanup with a shell trap so the browser is never left orphaned:

trap 'openbrowser-ai daemon stop >/dev/null 2>&1 || true' EXIT
# ... openbrowser-ai -c calls here ...

Downloaded files in ~/.config/openbrowser/downloads/ survive daemon stop, only the browser process is terminated. Do not rely on the idle timeout. Do not call done() as a substitute, done() only marks the task complete inside the agent loop, it does not close the browser.